Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
“Friday Night Fights” will air as usual on ESPN2, but it will also be offered for the first time on ESPN 3D, the first 3D boxing telecast in the United States, the network announced.
“We anticipate delivering an extraordinary visual experience with our 3D coverage of boxing,” said Phil Orlins, ESPN 3D’s coordinating producer. “3D is most impactful when you have the opportunity to shoot from close proximity to the action, making boxing one of the most ideal sports to cover in 3D.”
The card (9 p.m. ET) from the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, Md., features blue chip middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero (20-0, 16 KOs), who is from Salisbury, against Derrick Findley (17-4, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event. In the co-feature, welterweight prospect Shawn Porter (17-0, 13 KOs) fights Anges Adjaho (25-4, 14 KOs).
Blow-by-blow announcer Joe Tessitore is looking forward to it.
“Here’s hoping we get a spectacular, head-snapping, sweat-spraying, one-punch knockout just a few feet away from an ESPN 3D camera,” said Tessitore, who covered ESPN 3D college football games during the 2010-11 season, including coverage of the BCS National Championship game. “The color and energy we captured for the BCS National Championship game on ESPN 3D was everything we thought it would be and more. Among those of us on that production team, ‘Friday Night Fights’ is the telecast we’ve been waiting for. The one descriptive I’ll often use for 3D is that it provides fans the best seat in the house and boxing tends to do that better than most sports as it is. 3D will only add to it.”
Viewers need access to ESPN 3D, an exclusive 3D network that debuted last year and is available in approximately 62.5 million homes. It has televised events such as college football and basketball, the State Farm Home Run Derby, the Masters, the Harlem Globetrotters and NBA games.
“We are very excited to see the results of boxing in 3D because it may benefit the most of any sport from 3D because of the nature of the up-close coverage,” said Matt Sandulli, ESPN senior coordinating producer for “Friday Night Fights.”
Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.